U.S. to Deploy Defense Systems to Turkey

By

Adam Entous

Updated Dec. 14, 2012 5:26 a.m. ET

INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey—U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Friday ordered the deployment of two batteries of Patriot air-defense systems, along with some 400 American troops to man them, to Turkey as part of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization push to shore up Ankara's defenses against possible attacks from Syria.

The deployment approved by Mr. Panetta would mark a sharp expansion of the Pentagon's role along Syria's borders and comes amid increasing U.S. concern that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, under...